U.P. ethanol plant survives court challenge

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging a proposed ethanol plant in the Eastern Upper Peninsula.

The Sierra Club and Chippewa County resident Larry Klein said the federal government did an inadequate job of analyzing the environmental impacts and investigating alternatives. But Marquette federal Judge R. Allan Edgar said the risk to local health was adequately considered.

The judge said Tuesday that mitigation projects would make up for any impact on wetlands.

He also said that state and federal officials found no endangered species near the location.

Frontier Renewable Resources will break down wood into sugars that ferment and become ethanol. The plant would use about 560,000 tons of pulpwood a year from public and private lands. The U.S. Energy Department is providing $100 million.